1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to digital communication. In particular, the invention relates to channel multiplexing.
2. Background of the Invention
A typical communication system has a number of input ports on a bandwidth aggregator. These input ports receive information from a number of sources at different data rates from low bandwidth communication channels. The data are stored in buffers (e.g., first in first out) having appropriate depth. Data from the buffers are then multiplexed by a multiplexing unit into a high bandwidth channel for service.
When service requests are made simultaneously, the system needs to decide which input port to service. The decision has to be made such that the service requests can be accommodated at reasonable response time to avoid overflow at the buffers, resulting in loss of data. In practical systems, the endpoints to lower bandwidth channels and the higher bandwidth multiplexing unit may be physically located on separate devices, and no or little information is available to allow the multiplexing circuit to make an informed decision resolving multiple requests.
Existing techniques to resolve multiple requests include time division multiplexing, weighed round robin, and priority-based schemes. However, these techniques are inadequate because the amount of data carried by the input channels at a given time may vary considerably.
Therefore, there is a need in the technology for a technique to process multiple requests.